Ted Cruz, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, right, stands with his wife, Heidi, as he speaks to supporters during a campaign stop outside St. Martin's Episcopal Church Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012, in Houston.

Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle

Ted Cruz, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, right, stands with...

Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Ted Cruz, left, looks up at a television as he watches election results Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012, in Houston. Cruz is running against Democrat Paul Sadler to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Ted Cruz reacts as a large number of votes for him is announced as he watches election resultsTuesday, Nov. 6, 2012, in Houston. Cruz is running against Democrat Paul Sadler to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press

Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Ted Cruz reacts as a large...

A reader writes that columnist Ruben Navarrette says Democrats should worry about freshman Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz but fails to show why they should be concerned.
Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press

Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Ted Cruz is silhouetted by the camera lights as he conducts an interview with a television reporter Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012, in Houston. Cruz is running against Democrat Paul Sadler to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press

Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Ted Cruz is silhouetted by the...

AUSTIN — Tea party favorite Ted Cruz promised supporters Tuesday night he will fight for “common-sense conservative principles” as he heads to the U.S. Senate and against the path outlined thus far by President Barack Obama.

Cruz easily beat underfunded Democrat Paul Sadler to become the first Hispanic elected to the U.S. Senate from Texas, the last step in what Cruz called an “incredible, magical journey.”

“My pledge to you is to work every single day in the U.S. Senate to champion small businesses and entrepreneurs, and to help them do what they do best, which is create jobs and get America working again,” Cruz told a GOP victory party in Houston.

“If President Obama means what he says on the campaign trail, if he is interested in working to bring people together to reduce the deficit and get people working, then I will work with him,” Cruz said. “But if he is re-elected and intends to continue down this same path, then I will spend every waking moment working to lead the fight to stop it.”

Cruz, 41, drew national attention by beating establishment-backed Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst for the GOP nod for the seat now held by U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. His victory over Sadler, a former state lawmaker, was expected in this red state.

Cruz said in a Monday interview that he had not yet rented a Washington apartment, although his victory means he is due in the nation's capital next week for orientation.

“We have done nothing until the election,” Cruz said.

Sadler, who during the campaign characterized Cruz as “the most extreme Senate candidate in Texas history,” told Democrats at the Driskill Hotel in Austin that he honored the process and so was “proud to stand in front of you and say that we have a new Senator-elect named Ted Cruz.”

He said Democrats helped to create an important debate on issues including immigration and health care.

“But now, our response as Texans, as Americans, we stand up and say to the world, ‘This is the vote,'” said Sadler, 57. “We link arms together and go forward as a state, forward as a nation, because that's who we are.”

Cruz, who often tells of his father fleeing Cuban oppression and celebrates legal immigration, opposes amnesty for those without legal documents. Asked about the connection between his heritage and his politics, Cruz has said the proper perspective is that he is “a conservative who also happens to be the child of an immigrant who came here penniless, not speaking English.”

His priorities are economic: cutting spending and reducing the debt; easing regulations on small businesses; and tax reform. He predicts an “epic battle” as he and other Republicans fight to repeal the federal health care reform law.

As a new senator, how big a role he will play as a practical matter is open to question. Mark Jones, chairman of the political science department at Rice University, predicted Cruz will be “a very visible face of Republicans nationwide, as well as movement conservatives in particular.”

“I think we're more likely to see him as a national politician, as someone who is much more active on television and in terms of reaching out to various groups than actually in the corridors of power in the Senate,” Jones said.

Cruz said he would work with all sides to achieve his aims. Cruz plans to rent a Washington apartment, but his wife, Heidi, southwest region head in the investment management division of Goldman Sachs & Co., and their two girls, ages 2 and 4, will remain in Houston, he said.